Music sheet turner



P 1931- E. GUSTAFSON MUSIC SHEET TURNER Filed Jan. 18, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet l Eugen/21 Sept. 8, 1931. E. GUSTAFSON 1,822,523

MUSIC SHEET TURNER Filed Jan. 18, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sept. 8, 1931. E. GUSTAFSON 1,822,523

MUS IC SHEET TURNER Filed Jan. 18. 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 (1/6 6 1/ 0M Maw v dEwev/top Patented Sept. 8, 1931 EMIL GUSTAFSON, OF CICERO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES J.

GUSTAFSON, GF

CICERO, ILLINOIS MUSIC SHEET TURNER Application filed January 18, 1930.

Serial No. 421,622.

This invention relates to improvements in Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of music sheetturners, and more particularly to foot-operated devices of the character constructed either as an integral part of or an attachment for music stands.

The object of the invention is to provide a device which will turn a page or sheet of music successively in opposite directions with each manipulation of a foot-operated pedal, thus permitting a composition to be repeated without interruption. The device of the present disclosure is primarily intended for the sheet music consisting for the most part of a double-sheet and a loose sin gle sheet, although it may be used equally Well for turning a page of music in book form. Such a device is therefore of particular convenience for the playing of the so-called popular music, permitting the chorus to be repeated by turning back the loose sheet. I am aware that turning devices have been devised for turning successive' pages of a musical composition, thereby permitting the same to be played '2 through without interruption, but I am not aware of the existence of a device which will turn a sheet in both directions. The accomplishment of this result necessarily involves mechanism which imparts an intermittent swinging movement to a sheet-holding member so that with each manipulation of the foot pedal the sheet is turned, that is, swung through 180 first in one direction and then in the opposite direction.

' The novel feature of the invention is therefore embodied for the most part in the mechanism which is housed in a casing or head mounted on the sheet-holding rack of the stand and directly connected with the sheet engaging member.

It is perhaps needless to observe that while the-device in its preferred form is shown as part'of a music stand such as used by performers upon wind or stringed instruments, it may also be adapted for pianos and organs.

7 A clear understanding of the device will be had from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings,

in which music stand equipped with the music sheet turning device;

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the same assembly;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view in horizontal section through the sheet holding rack taken on line of Figure 1;

Figure at is an enlarged detail view in vertical section through the head of the turning device;

Figure 5 is a View in front elevation of the head with the cover removed to show the mech anism Figure 6 is a view in side elevation of the 7 head with cover sections removed;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the oscillating shaft with its sheet-engaging clip;

Figure 8 is a view in vertical section taken on line 8-8 of Figure 4. showing the pulley and adjacent parts as viewed from the rear.

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic View of the cam members as taken on line 9-9 of Figure 4, and intended to illustrate their action.

Figure 10 is a detail view in vertical section through the casing as taken on line 10-10 of Figure l.

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the driving member showing the contact roller and cam dog together with the pawl coacting therewith.

The music stand on which the turning device is mounted may be of any standard construction consisting generally of a pedestal or tripod 1 supporting an inclined rack la, and resting upon a tripod 11) consisting of the usual arrangement of three straight legs. The several parts of the stand are detachable and collapsible so that it may be conveniently carried, and the pedestal is extensible so that the rack may be raised or lowered to the desired l'ieight for a standing or sitting position. Further details of the stand may be omitted.

The turning device as a whole consists of a pedal assembly 2 secured to one of the leg of the tripod 1, a head 3 supported at tn upper end of .ne central upright frame member 10 of the rack and connected with the foot pedal by means of a wire & enclosed within a flexible tubular sheath 5, and a rock shaft 6 extending vertically downward from the front of the head and centrally of the rack, and having a clip 6a extending at right angles thereto into which the loose sheet is inserted edgewise.

The head 3 has the form of a circular casing in which the mechanism for oscillating the shaft is housed, and from the casing is a hollow neck or sleeve having a narrow slot open at its lower end into which the thin blade-like end of the central frame member of the rack is inserted for mounting the head in place. The rock shaft 6 is connected with the mechanism within the head through a pair of mitre gears 7 and 8 journalled on an Lshaped bearing plate 9 form ing a part of the head frame. As a preferable construction, the rock shaft is detachable from the head just below the mitre gear bearing plate (Figure 4), any suitable form of slip joint being used although for all practical purposes the shaft and gearing is the driven member of the mechanism within the head. The shaft 6 may have a bearing in the lower edge of the rock, although one is not altogether necessary. The clip 6a consists of a pair of flexible metal strips four or five inches in length, with the ends flared to permit the sheet to be inserted easily. Again, as a preferred construction the clip has pivotal connection with the shaft through a special mounting, as shown in Figure 7, but this is a detail which need not be enlarged upon.

Referring to the pedal assembly 2, the same comprises a supporting member 10 consisting of an elongated strip of metal plate of L-section, fastened as by a clip 10a to the forward leg of the tripod and bent intermediate its ends to form an inclined portion extending horizontally to a point rearwardly and above the junction of the legs with the pedestal. Pivotally mounted on the vertical flange of the frame 10 are two lever arms 11 and 12 connected together by meshing gear sectors 11a and 12a at their pivoted ends. In normal position these'lever arms extend along the frame toward opposite ends thereof, the forward arm 12 being connected with a foot pedal 13 pivotally connected at its lower end to a bracket 13a clamped to the foremost leg of the tripod, just above the floor. The free end of the adjacent lever arm 12 is slotted, and in the slot rides a pin 13?; carried by the pedal. The end of the rearmost lever arm 11 is connected with the wire 4 which passes upwardly through the tubular sheath 5 to the head 3, the lower end of said sheath being anchored in a slot at the rear end of the support 10 by a special screw fitting 5a. Similarly the end of the wire 4 has detacln able connection with the lever arm 11, thus allowing the pedal assembly to be detached from the head for convenience in disassembling, but for the purpose of this disclosure the connections may be considered as permanent. Thus in normal position the pedal proper, 13, assumes a position parallel with the leg of the tripod and inclined to the floor, and by pressing down on the pedal with the foot the lever arms are depressed in unison to draw the wire 4 downwardly in its sheath. As is already apparent, the upper end of the wire 4 terminates within "the head 3 and more specifically passes around and is attached to a light spoked pulley 14 journalled in the head, the periphery of the pulley being grooved and the wire passing around the pulley in a counterclockwise direction (Figures 4 and 8) has its end secured thereto after making less than a complete turn. Immediately adjacent the pulley (to the left, Figure 4) is a helical spring 15 having its inner end fixed to the frame of the head and its outer or free end attached to the pulley, the action of the spring being such that it counteracts as the pulley is rotated in a cockwise direction by the downward travel of the wire when the foot pedal is depressed and expands when the pedal is released, to rotate the pulley in the opposite direction to its normal position.

Referring now to the construction of the head, the same comprises acircular frame member 16 against the opposite edges of which are fastened the front and rear cover members 17 and 18, the former being capshaped to enclose the mitre gearing, and the latter being a concave disc. Extending centrally of the frame member is an integral bearing plate 19 and in the plane of the edge faces of said frame member are fixed plates 20 and 21. These three plates 19, 20, and 21 together with the circular frame member 16 and cover plates 17 and 18 form of the head. The head has a neck portion.

which consists of a radial arm 21a integral with the plate 21, a narrow plate 22 spaced inwardly from said arm, and a channelshaped cover member 23 (Figure 2) which, when assembled, encloses the upper end portion of the wire sheath 5 and the brackets 51), 5b which secure it to the plate 22, as shown in Figure 6-. The space between the arm 21a and the plate 22 forms a slot with guides 24 at each end into which the upper end of the central frame member 1a of the music stand is inserted, as previously described in connection with Figures 1 and 2.

Returning now to the circular casing, the pulley 14 is loosely journalled on a short stub shaft 25 which in turn is journalled in its ends in the central bearing plate 19 and the rear frame plate 20 (Figure 4). The pulley is thus located between these plates 19 and 20 with the spring 15 on one (left) side.

one end of said spring being fixed to the pulley adjacent its rim as at a, and the other end to the central plate as at 155. Fixed to theshaft is a ratchet disc 26 located between the hub portion of the pulley 14 and the plate 20. This ratchet disc has two teeth 26%, 26a diametrically opposite each other and having radial edges facing in a counter-clockwise direction (Figure 8). Mounted on the hub portion of the pulley 14 is a pawl 27, its free end being held against the periphery of the ratchet disc by a leaf spring 27a. Thus assuming that the wire 4 is pulled downwardly by depressing the foot pedal, the pulley is rotated through approximately 180 or one-half a revolution. At

the commencement of this rotation of the teeth 26a of the ratchet disc 26 and therefore the shaft 25 is rotated with the pulley. On releasing the pedal, however, the spring 15 retracts the pulley to its normal position, but the shaft remains stationary as the pawl slides over the edge ofthe ratchet disc until it slips into engagement with the opposite tooth thereof. In other words, with eachdepression and release of the foot pedal the pulley is rotated throughout one-half a revolution in opposite directions, the shaft 25 being turned with it during the depression of the pedal, but remains stationary as it is released and the pulley resumes its starting position under the tension of the spring 15.

Having thus defined the movement of the shaft 25, attention is now directed to a radial arm 28 integral with the forward (left) end of said shaft, (Figures 4 and 9), and which rotates therewith in a plane just beyond (to the left) of the central bearing plate 19. This arm is preferably arcuate in shape and has a radius equal to that of the pulley 14.

Mounted near the end of this arm is a cam .member 29, and just inwardly from the cam is a contact roller 30, both being mounted on the outer or front face of the driving arm.

Just forwardly of the plane of the driving arm 28 is the front frame plate 21, which in reality has the form of a fiat, narrow ring with a pair of oppositely disposed radial ears 21b, 21?) at top and bottom, projecting inwardly toward the center but terminating short thereof, as shown in Figure 10. Mounted on the outer faces of these ears 21b, 21b and straddling the space between them is the L-shaped bearing bracket 9 in which the mitre gears 7 and 8 are ournalled, these parts having heretofore been identified. Now it will be observed that the axis of the horizontally mounted mitre gear 8 is offset from the axis of the shaft 25, and the gear proper is fixed to the outer end of a shaft 31 journalled in a bearing sleeve 31a mounted on said bracket and carrying at its inner end a cam 32 having an arm 32a extending radially from its central hub portion, the latter having teeth out in the edge thereof to form a gear sector 326 (Figure 10).

Diametrically opposite the stub shaft 31 and offset the same distance from the axis of M16 shaft 25 is another stub shaft 33 journalled in a bearing set into the inner face of the bearing bracket 9. This stub shaft 31 carries the complement 34 of the cam mem ber 32 and has an arm 34a and a gear sector 34?) which meshes with the gear sector 32?) of its companion cam.

Now, bearing in mind that the sheet turning member or shaft 6 is to be oscillated alternately in opposite directions through 180 with each depression of the foot pedal, it will be seen that the action of the cam arms is to convert the intermittent rotative movement of the driving arm 28 in one direction into an intermittent rotative movement in alternately opposite directions.

Now, referring to Figures 9 and 10, it will be observed that the driving arm 28 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction-as indi cated by the arrow, and the path of the contact roller is a circle with its center coinciding with the axis of rotation of the driving arm. The cams rotate in opposite directions to each other by virtue of the gear connection between the two, and are limited in their rotation to arcs of something less than 180. In each of the extreme positions, the arms approach parallelism, but since their axes of rotation are offset on opposite sides of the axis of the roller 30, it follows that the arms swing in eccentric arcs as shown in Figure 9, so that one arm becomes increasingly shorter and the other longer with respect to the radius of the circular path of said roller, as the cams rotate through their respective arcs in alternate directions.

Now, let it be assumed that the cam arms 32a and 34a are at rest at one extremity of their arcs of movement, as shown in full lines in Figure 9, and the driving arm 28 is also at rest in one of its starting positions and ready to be advanced in a counterclockwise direction by depressing the foot pedal. In this position it will be noted that the roller 30 has contact with the rear edge and just inwardly from the end of the upper arm 32a, this being the position of the parts when the foot pedal is released. Now, when the footpedal is depressed, the driving arm 28 travels in a counter-clockwise direction, carrying the cam arm 3%; with it, while the lower cam arm 32a swings downwardly, traveling in the opposite direction. Since the arc of travel of the roller 30 is eccentric with respect to the arc of the cam arm, the former moves gradually toward the end of the arm so that when the latter reaches the end of its travel through slightly less than 180, the roller slides off the end of the arm as shown in dotted line (Figure 9) continuing its travel through its one-half revolution and comes to rest in contact with the edge of the othercam arm 34a which has come to rest in a downward vertical position. With the next depression of the foot pedal the driving member 28 travels through the other half of a complete revolution, with the lower cam 34a carried in advance of the roller 30, as shown in Figure 10. Hence, the movement of the driving member 28 is an intermittent rotation in one direction traveling through one-half revolution with each depression of the foot pedal, while the cam arms 32a and 34a are swung alternately in opposite directions as the contact roller passes successively from one to the other, there being imparted to the sheet engaging shaft 6 a swinging movement in opposite directions through an arc of 180 with each shifting of the roller from one cam arm to the other.

In order that the driving member 28 may be held from slipping backwardly after coming to rest at the end of each one-half revolution, a pair of pawls 35, 35 are mounted on the ears 21b, 21?) of the ring plate 21, each being journalled in a bracket 86 secured to the outer face of each ear. These pawls are located in the path of the cam 29 mounted at the end of the driving arm 28 and each is provided with a detent 35a at the end of an arm extending circumferentially in a clockwise direction from the points of pivotal support, and a leaf spring 37 which acts to hold the detent of thepawl in depressed positions. At the rear end of the cam 29 is a shoulder 29a (Figure 11) into which the detent of each pawl drops as the cam passes beneath it, thereby holding the driving arm 28 against backward movement as the pulley turns backwardly when the pedal is released.

In this manner the driving arm 28 is brought to a definite starting position after each one-half revolution for the next for- Ward movement, thus insuring the uniform and certain reversing action of the driven members, viz., the cam arms 32 and 341-, the mitre gears 7 and 9, and the sheet turning shaft 6.

In Figures 1, 2 and 3 a piece of music is shown in position on thestand 1, the same consisting of a double sheet S and a single sheet S, the former being placed in open position on the rack behind the shaft 6 while the latter is inserted edgewise in the clip 6a of the shaft 6. Thus with each depression of the foot pedal the single sheet S is swung from one side to the other in much the same manner as it would be turned by hand. It will be observed, however, that the sheet is turned only when the pedal is depressed so that it is necessary to depress the pedal twice in order to turn the sheet over and then back again, there being no movement imparted to the driven parts of the mechanism during the release or return movement of the pedal.

In order to hold the outer or main double sheet S of the music in place while the single sheet is being turned, a Y-shaped frame 38 with light wire arms is mounted on the lower end of the shaft 6, as shown in Figure 1, said frame having a flat base member 38a with a vertical bore through which the end of the shaft is inserted. The arms 38?) with loops at their ends bear against the two halves of the main sheet S and prevent them from being turned by the suction produced by the turning of the single sheet.

This device may readily be equipped to turn a page of a piece of music in book form, that is, where the sheet to be turned is not loose. This is accomplished by replacing the shaft 6 by an arm projecting at right angles to the axis of the oscillation and provided with two or more clips which engage the top edge of the sheet or page.

Having set forth a preferred embodiment of my invention,

I claim:

1. In a sheet turning device the combination mounted on said support, of a casing mounted on said support, a sheet-engaging member journalled on said casing, a manually-actuated operating lever remote from said casing, a shaft ournalled in said casing, a pulley journalled loosely on said shaft and having pawl and ratchet connection therewith, a flexible cable on said pulley having its free end. connected with said manually operated lover, a radial driving arm at one end of said shaft, a pair of cam members adjacent said driving arm and journalled on axes offset on opposite sides of the axis of said shaft, said cam members having intermeshing gear sectors and radial arms adapted to swing in opposite directions through a substantially semi-circular are, said driving member having a contact roller projecting into the path of said radial arms, and adapted in the rotation of said driving arm to alternately engage said cam arms to rotate said sheet-engaging member alternately in opposite directions through substantially one-half a revolution with each actuation of said operating lever.

2. In a turning device for sheet music, the combination of manually operative driving mechanism including a rotative cam member adapted to be advanced in one direction through a predetermined arc with each operation of said driving mechanism, and driven mechanism including a sheet-engagin member and cam levers mounted in the path of said cam member and adapted to be alternately engaged thereby to swing said sheet-engaging member alternately in opposite directions.

3. In a turning device for sheet music, the

combination of manually operative driving mechanism including a rotative cam member adapted to travel in a circular path and in one direction through a perdetermined arc during each operation of said driving mechanism, and driven mechanism including a sheet-engaging member, and a pair of cam levers rotative about axes eccentric to the axis of said cam member and adapted to be successively engaged thereby to impart a turning movement to said sheetengaging member in alternately opposite directions.

4:. In a turning device for sheet music, the combination of a rotative driving arm having a cam roller, manually operative means for rotating said driving arm in one direction and through one-half a revolution during each operation, driven mechanism including a sheet-engaging member and a pair of intermeshing gear members rotative about axes eccentric to the axis of said driving arm and having radial arms lying in the plane of said cam roller and adapted to be successively engaged by said cam roller to rotate their gear members alternately in opposite directions and through substantially semicircular arcs, and means for transmitting the movement of said gear members to said sheet-engaging member.

5. In a turning device for a sheet of music, the combination of a sheet-holding member and driving mechanism therefor, including a rotative driving arm, manually operative means for rotating said driving arm in one direction through successive one-half revolutions, a pair of cam members operatively connected with said sheet-holding member and journalled on axes offset from the axis of said driving arm, said cam members having radial arms adapted to be alternately engaged by said driving arm to impart a swinging movement to said sheet-holding member.

6. In a turning device for a sheet of music, the. combination of a rotative sheet-holding member, manually operative driving mechanism connected with said sheet-holding member and comprising a rotative arm adapted to be advanced in the same direction through a predetermined arc with each manual operation, and cam mechanism interposed between said driving arm and said sheet-holding member including a pair of meshing gear sectors having radial arms adapted to swing in opposite directions and through semicircular arcs eccentric to the axis of said driving arm, the latter being adapted to alternately engage said cam arms in its rotative movement to impart to said sheet-holding member alternate forward and reverse swinging movements through substantially one-half a revolution with each operation of the driving mechanism.

7 In a turning device for a sheet of music, the combination of a head having a sheetholding member journalled thereon, a driving arm also journalled in said head, pedal actuated means connected with said driving arm for imparting an intermittent rotation thereto through substantially one-half revolution in the same direction with each operation of said pedal actuated means and cam mechanism interposed between said driving arm and said sheet-holding member, including a pair of meshing gear sectors journalled in said head adjacent said driving arm and having radial arms adapted to swing in opposite directions and in arcs eccentric to the axis of said driving arm, the latter having a projection describing a circular path and adapted to alternately engage said cam arms to impart to said sheetengaging member a rotative movement in alternately opposite directions through substantially one-half a revolution.

Signed at Chicago, 111., this 14 day of January, 1930.

EMIL GUSTAFSON. 

